Cyanocinnamamides are known to be useful as ultra-violet stabilizers for polymers including for polycarbonates, polyesters, and polyamides. A number of processes for production of cyanocinnamamides are known. For example in one process, a benzophenone is condensed with a cyanoacetate to form the corresponding cyanocinnamate ester, followed by the transformation of the ester into the acid by saponification. Acid chloride is prepared by the reaction of the acid with thionyl chloride, followed by reaction with an amine to form the amide. In another process, after condensation of the cyanoacetate and benzophenone, the cyanocinnamic acid converted by the saponification is directly converted to the corresponding amide by reaction with its isocyanate.
These processes are disadvantageous in that they are multi-step processes and involve difficult to handle intermediate compounds and reagents such as acid chloride, thionyl chloride, and isocyanate. Thus, a need exists for an efficient method for producing cyanocinnamamides that avoids some of the disadvantages of the known processes.